A'rés

A'rés, the Greek god of war, or more particularly of its horror and tumult, was the son of Zeus and Hera, and one of the favourites of Aphrodite. He is represented in Greek poetry as a most sanguinary divinity, delighting in war for its own sake, and in the destruction of men. Before him into battle goes his sister Eris ('Strife'); along with him are his sons and companions, Deimos ('Horror') and Phobos ('Fear'). He does not always adhere to the same side, like the great Athena, but inspires now the one, now the other. Nor is he always victorious. Diomed, by the help of Athena, wounds him, and in his fall, says Homer, 'he roared like nine or ten thousand warriors together.' Such a representation would have been deemed blasphemous by the ancient Roman mind, imbued as it was with a solemn Hebrew-like reverence for its gods. The worship of Ares was never very general in Greece; it is believed to have been imported from Thrace. There, and in Scythia, were its great seats, and there Ares was believed to have his chief home. He had, however, temples or shrines at Athens, Sparta, Olympia, and other places. On statues and reliefs he is represented as young and of great muscular power, either naked or clothed with the chlamys. The Romans identified their national war-god Mars with the Greek Ares. See MARS.